Congress leader gets police custody for toll booth attack

Thane: A local court on Wednesday remanded 22 persons, including district Congress chief Nilesh Sambre, in police custody till March 15 in connection with vandalising a toll booth in the district, police said.

Sambre was among 22 others arrested yesterday for ransacking a newly-constructed toll booth at Waghote on Wada-Manor Road in the tribal-dominated district, neighbouring Mumbai.

Sambre fainted in the court room during the hearing and was admitted in a hospital at Wada, police said.

A mob of around 500 villagers, allegedly led by Sambre, ransacked the booth and attacked employees alleging that the private constructor started collecting the road tax without completing the construction of road.

The villagers were annoyed over coming up of the toll booth, taking their total number to 18 in the district.

Meanwhile, Thane Congress today said in a press release that two persons were injured in firing resorted to by one of the employees of the toll booth when the mob stormed it.

Congress has announced a bandh in Wada and Vikramgadh talukas of the district tomorrow in protest against the police action.